War in Afghanistan

May 30 (UPI) — Legal status in the United States can be lawfully revoked for more than a combined 530,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Friday.

The court only issued an unsigned dissenting opinion acknowledging the federal government can move ahead with its Termination of Parole Process for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans, commonly referred to as CHNV.

In March, President Donald Trump directed the Department of Homeland Security to revoke the legal status of 532,000 migrants under sponsorship programs, primarily from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela.

The migrants were granted legal protected status under former President Joe Biden‘s administration, a program Trump has attempted to wind down amid legal challenges.

A federal judge in Massachusetts last month granted a temporary order blocking Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem from revoking previously-granted parole to the protected migrants.

Earlier this month, Trump asked the Supreme Court to intervene and allow the government to remove protected status.

On Thursday, Boston-based U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani ordered the Trump administration to restart processing applications under the migrant program.

Friday’s Supreme Court ruling returns the issue to the lower courts, giving the Department of Homeland Security the ability to stop processing extension requests from migrants with current legal protections under CHNV while the legal process plays out.

“The Court has plainly botched this assessment today. It requires next to nothing from the Government with respect to irreparable harm. And it undervalues the devastating consequences of allowing the Government to precipitously upend the lives and livelihoods of nearly half a million noncitizens while their legal claims are pending,” the unsigned dissenting opinion states.

Two of the high court’s liberal judges, Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor, dissented from the majority.

“Even if the Government is likely to win on the merits, in our legal system, success takes time and the stay standards require more than anticipated victory. I would have denied the Government’s application because its harm-related showing is patently insufficient. The balance of the equities also weighs heavily in respondents’ favor. While it is apparent that the Government seeks a stay to enable it to inflict maximum predecision damage, court-ordered stays exist to minimize-not maximize-harm to litigating parties,” the dissenting opinion states.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court ruled in a similar fashion when it allowed the Trump administration to revoke special legal protections for nearly 350,000 Venezuelan nationals living in the United States temporarily.

May 24 (UPI) — Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is further restricting media access to areas of the Pentagon, as he seeks to cut down on unsanctioned leaks of military information.

“Updated security measures for resident and visiting press are needed to reduce the opportunities for in-person inadvertent and unauthorized disclosures,” Hegseth said in a memo issued earlier this week.

Reporters will now be required to have an official escort with them in more areas of the Pentagon, including the hallway where Hegseth’s office is located.

“They [media] are required to be formally escorted to and from those respective offices,” the memo reads.

Journalists in the Pentagon will also be required to sign a pledge to protect “sensitive information.”

Reporters may not move freely inside the Defense Department headquarters “without an official approval and escort from the Office of the Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs.” That role currently belongs to Hegseth’s assistant for public affairs and senior advisor, Sean Parnell.

Parnell earlier in the week was tasked with leading a panel conducting a “comprehensive review” of the United States’ withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Hegseth has taken aim at the media following a series of Defense Department leaks and missteps.

In March, the Defense Secretary came under fire for accidentally adding a journalist to a Signal chat, sharing classified information about U.S. bombings of Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Defense Department officials were later successively put on leave in April, including deputy chief of staff Darin Selnick. Chief of staff to Deputy U.S. Defense Secretary Colin Carroll was put on administrative leave at the same time.

A fourth official was implicated in the leak and reassigned days later.

Later that month, Hegseth was found to have reportedly shared classified military information in a separate Signal chat.

“While the Department remains committed to transparency, the Department is equally obligated to protect CNSI (classified national intelligence information) and sensitive information — the unauthorized disclosure of which could put the lives of U.S. Service members in danger,” Hegseth wrote in the memo.

The Defense Secretary said the “updated security measures” are necessary “to reduce the opportunities for in-person inadvertent and unauthorized disclosures.”

May 12 (UPI) — Homeland Security is ending the Temporary Protected Status program for Afghanistan with more than 9,000 nationals residing in the United States facing deportation, Secretary Kristi Noem announced Monday.

TPS for them will expire May 20 and the program’s elimination is set for July 12, the federal agency said.

Noem determined that permitting Afghan nationals to remain temporarily in the United States “is contrary to the national interest of the United States,” according to a news release.

“This administration is returning TPS to its original temporary intent,” Noem said. “We’ve reviewed the conditions in Afghanistan with our interagency partners, and they do not meet the requirements for a TPS designation. Afghanistan has had an improved security situation, and its stabilizing economy no longer prevent them from returning to their home country.”

Noem also claimed that the termination aligns with the Trump administration’s efforts to root out fraud in the immigration system.

“The termination furthers the national interest as DHS records indicate that there are recipients who have been under investigation for fraud and threatening our public safety and national security,” Noem said.

The TPS program provides temporary legal status and work authorization to nationals from countries experiencing armed conflict, natural disasters, or other extraordinary conditions.

President Joe Biden initially designated Afghanistan for TPS for 1 1/2 years on May 20, 2022. It was extended another 18 months on Nov. 21, 2023.

The United States completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan on Aug. 30, 2021, ending its 20-year military presence in the country. There was a peace agreement with the Taliban.

At least 60 days before a TPS designation expires, the agency’s secretary is required to review the conditions in a country designated for TPS to determine whether the conditions supporting the designation continue to be met. One month ago, DHS said Afganistan “no longer continues to meet the statutory requirements of its TPS designation.”

Politico reported that the Trump administration considered exempting Christians from the TPS renovation because they face persecution if sent back to the Taliban-controlled country.

Nationals from countries experiencing armed conflict, natural disasters or other extraordinary conditions. are given legal status and work authorization.

Refugee rights groups blasted the decision.

“It’s rooted in politics,” Afghan Evac posted on X. “Afghanistan remains under the control of the Taliban. There is no functioning asylum system. There are still assassinations, arbitrary arrests, and ongoing human rights abuses, especially against women and ethnic minorities.

“What the administration has done today is betray people who risked their lives for America, built lives here, and believed in our promises. This policy change won’t make us safer — it will tear families apart, destabilize them, and shred what’s left of our moral credibility.”

The group said it “will fight this with everything we’ve got: in the courts, in Congress, and in the public square. The United States cannot abandon its allies and call that immigration policy.”

Earlier, Trump terminated TPS protections for about 532,000 people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela in the United States.

Massachusetts-based U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani, appointed by President Barack Obama, ruled on April 15 against the Trump administration. It was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court last week.

Separately, District Judge Edward Chen in San Francisco, appointed by President Barack Obama, on March 31 blocked the plan to end the status for 350,000 from Venezuela, and the Justice Department filed an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court. Their status was to end April 7.

Another 250,000 immigrants from the Central American country who arrived before 2023 will lose their status in September.

In 2018, the same judge temporarily blocked the first Trump administration’s decision to end TPS for immigrants from four countries: El Salvador, Haiti, Sudan and Nicaragua.